Certifind carries on its mission in helping tourism providers find a sustainable certification for their business. Some fine-tuning to make the platform as user-friendly as possible will be implemented soon, for example we will be linking the certification criteria for each label in the label’s description itself. Further, a short introductory video which includes textual as well as visual cues about how the platform operates is in the works will soon be available on the OnTour homepage.
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The last of a long series of workshops on sustainability took place in Bischofshofen on 20 August 2019. In the past months some crucial topics were discussed, such as water & rain, regionalism & sustainability, and sustainable mobility. Finally, this set of workshops ended up discussing "The relationship with the guest: attract them, support them and surprise them - what to pay attention on for a good communication?".
Last but not least, a tourism concept for regional experts will be developed in the coming weeks based on the concluded workshops. For more information please write to klar@pongau.org.
 

For the first time, the Pongau region will host the Klimagipfel (Climate Summit), which will take place on 17 October 2019 in the Werfenweng Festsaal (AT) from 14 onwards. Erich Bergmüller, representative for the Edelweiß Naturhotel in Wagrain, will open the event with a presentation on "Loyalty, employee accommodation and sustainable tourism". Other projects’ presentations will follow; among others, Thomas Burgstaller - head of the AMS in Bischofshofen - and Nadine Guggenberger - partner in the OnTour project, as well as some insights on the tourism work sector by the tourism school of Bad Hofgastein. Finally, participants will join a round table with experts and will have the chance to visit the family-run Gut Wenghof Hotel and the Travel Charme Hotel in Werfenweng.
Interested? Write to klar@pongau.org to register for the event.
 
The event is organized in collaboration with the Hohe Tauern National Park, a model region for climate protection and energy saving. For those interested, another related initiative on "Alpine economy and tourism" will take place on 18 October 2019 in Bruck.
 
 

The municipality of Venzone honors its medieval past and culture through the 27° edition of the Festa della zucca, taking place on 26-27 October 2019. This event will take place in a very pleasant atmosphere and will be full of shows, jugglers, storytellers, fire-eaters and dish tastings based on pumpkin (zucca) receipts.
 
Sunday morning will be dedicated to the competition for the longest and heaviest pumpkin, as well as for the best decorated one. In the afternoon a great medieval festival will illuminate the streets with torches and animate them with medieval nobles, ladies and knights.
 
More information on www.venzoneturismo.it/it/festa-della-zucca
 
 

 

OnTour had an opportunity to share our research with the rest of the world! The United Nations Centre International de Formation des Autorités et Leaders (CIFAL) in South Korea caught wind of OnTour’s online tool and our efforts to create an effective platform to support sustainable tourism in the Alps. CIFAL extended an invitation to a member of the OnTour team to come to South Korea and present our work on June 1^st at their 2019 Ecotourism Platform Workshop. The workshop brought industry experts and public sector practitioners to discuss the challenges of implementing sustainable tourism platforms, and OnTour was able to present certifind, our online tool, as a best practice. Very few regions have a systematic way to navigate the jungle of labels and OnTour was able offer insights for the Asia-Pacific. We also received valuable feedback on how to improve our tool, namely to encourage our businesses to pursue Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) accredited labels.
 
 

A OnTour working group – owners of tourism enterprises in South Tyrol, Pongau and Friuli Venezia Giulia, as well as the actual project partners - has recently taken part to a site visit in Tarvisio, a border land crossing Austria, Italy and Slovenia, where it collected several inputs on "sustainable tourism”.
During the workshop held in the idyllic "Malga Priu", the participants discussed with Francesco Marangon (professor at the University of Udine), Francesca Bonemazzi and Stefania Del Frate (experts from the Environmental Agency Friuli Venezia Giulia) and Bruno Bertero (Marketing Director of "PromoTurismo Friuli Venezia Giulia").
The main points emerged during the discussion include the role of sustainability labels in the tourism sector (e.g. EcoLabel) and the challenge of creating a market for the unique alpine landscape, even if natural goods have no monetary value. Last but not least, the importance of a regionally uniform marketing strategy for sustainable tourism.
As one of the main strengths of the project is to exchange knowledge between the project areas, participants did not miss the chance to visit the "tree houses" with their characteristic "pine-cone" shape and have a direct experience of forest bathing.

 

Do you run a small or medium-sized accommodation business in South Tyrol? Sustainability is not a buzzword for you, but your credo? You have already thought about obtaining a certification to make your sustainability efforts visible to guests and partners?  Your company is definitely a potential pilot enterprise for the OnTour project!
 
During the project’s first phase, we developed the "CertiFind" online tool. CertiFind lists already existing sustainability labels and lets interested companies find the most suitable option in a few clicks. During the second phase, we will support ten selected enterprises per region, including South Tyrol, in obtaining a sustainability label.
 
Got interested? Send your questions or application as OnTour pilot enterprise to irene.senfter@oekoinstitut.it
 

We have decided to call it certifind and we have high hopes that it will live up to its namesake to help tourism providers find the right certification for their business. Although certifind has been operational for about a month, the last two weeks have seen some remarkable modifications and fine-tuning to make it as user-friendly as possible.
 
Indeed, since its conception have we designed certifind with the end-user in mind and aim to simplify the information filtering processes certification seekers would otherwise endure. That’s why you won’t find any drop-down menus, lengthy tabular data or run into any “no results found” error messages when using the tool.
 
Certifind begins with a straightforward regional map of the Alps, delineated in muted earth tones and set to a memorizing moving mountainscape. Simply select your region(s), your business type and what sort of sustainability you’re looking for. If you’re not too familiar with aspects of sustainability, don’t worry; there’s a short explanation of the three options. Once you’re ready, show the results and you’ll see all the sustainability labels which operate in your region for your business.
 

In 2018, ARPA FVG (*) organized two seminars on "Sustainable tourism as a marketing strategy" and in recent years has helped the promotion of the EU Eco-label in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. Moreover, it has published a handbook for operators in mountain huts to provide tips for improving the sustainability of their business.

ARPA FVG will collaborate with OnTour to organize aware-arising workshops for accommodation providers. During the next workshop in spring the Consorzio Turistico del Tarvisiano will present the project to the participating businesses. The aim is to increase both demand and supply for sustainable tourism in the region.

* Agenzia Regionale per l’Ambiente FVG = Environment Agency of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region